South Korea’s military said on Wednesday that North Korea had fired its highest number of short-range missiles in a day as Seoul retaliated against Pyongyang’s latest weapons tests, further escalating tensions in the region.   

  North Korea fired up to 23 missiles of different types in the east and west of the Korean peninsula, including a surface-to-air missile in waters off the east and west coasts of the Korean peninsula, according to South Korea’s defense ministry.  .   

  One of the missiles launched by Pyongyang was a short-range ballistic missile that landed near South Korea’s territorial waters for the first time since the division of Korea, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.   

  The JCS said the missile landed in international waters 167 kilometers (104 miles) northwest of South Korea’s Ulleung Island, about 26 kilometers south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) – the de facto inter-Korean maritime border that North Korea does not recognize.   

  Japan’s defense ministry said North Korea carried out another launch later on Wednesday, including at least one more eastward ballistic missile that fell into the sea outside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).   

  The ballistic missile flew a short distance at a maximum height of less than 50 kilometers, Toshiro Ino, deputy defense minister, told reporters on Wednesday afternoon local time.   

  “North Korea has rapidly escalated its provocations, launching more than a dozen missiles today alone and reportedly firing more than 100 artillery shells into the Sea of ​​Japan since it issued an extremely provocative statement earlier in the day,” Ino said.   

  No damage to aircraft or ships has been confirmed so far.   

  When asked if North Korea had previously launched so many missiles during the day, Ino told reporters that in 2006 and 2009 the North had fired several missiles during the day from 3 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time and from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.  pm local time, respectively, without giving an exact number of missiles.   

  A South Korean defense official said earlier that the missiles landed west of the peninsula in the Yellow Sea, known as the West Sea in Korea, and to the east in the Sea of ​​Japan, also known as the East Sea.   

  An air raid warning on Ulleung Island, located about 120 kilometers east of the peninsula, was lifted at around 2pm local time on Wednesday.  South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said the North Korean test was an “effective territorial encroachment”.   

  At an emergency meeting of the National Security Council (NSC), Yun “ordered a stern response to be taken quickly so that North Korea’s provocation pays a clear price,” according to South Korea’s presidential office.   

  In an immediate response, South Korea fired three air-to-surface missiles from F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets on Wednesday morning, according to the JCS.   

  The JCS said South Korea’s air force targeted international waters north of the NLL at a distance equal to where the North Korean missile had earlier landed south of the line.   

  “The military’s precise strike demonstrated our willingness to respond forcefully to any North Korean provocations, including short-range ballistic missiles, and our ability and readiness to precisely target the enemy,” the JCS said.   

  North Korea is “fully responsible” for the situation as it continues to provoke despite warnings, the JCS added.   

  On Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters that North Korea was firing missiles with an “unprecedented high frequency.”   

  Kishida also called for a meeting of the National Security Council as soon as possible due to the rising tension on the Korean peninsula.   

  “North Korea’s unprecedented launch of multiple ballistic missiles recklessly threatens the security of the Republic of Korea,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong tweeted on Wednesday.   

  “Pyongyang must stop this action,” he added.   

  Moscow has urged North and South Korea to avoid steps that “could cause further escalation of tension” as it grapples with rifts in global relations amid Russian President Vladimir Putin’s violent invasion of Ukraine.   

  “The situation is already very tense on the peninsula and we call on everyone to remain calm and avoid steps that could cause a further escalation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.   

  US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield condemned North Korea’s unprecedented overnight missile launch.   

  Thomas-Greenfield told CNN’s This Morning with Don Lemon, Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow that the launch violated “many Security Council resolutions” and said the United Nations would “put pressure” on China and Russia to improve and strengthen such sanctions.   

  He declined to say whether US President Joe Biden would discuss it with China’s President Xi at the G20, but added that “it’s on the president’s mind”.   

  The launch is North Korea’s 29th this year, according to CNN’s count, and comes after a North Korean official warned in a statement earlier Wednesday that the United States and South Korea would pay the “most horrific price in history” for any military action. against Pyongyang.   

  The aggressive acceleration of weapons tests and rhetoric has raised alarm in the region, with the US, South Korea and Japan responding with missile launches and joint military exercises.   

  On Monday, the United States and South Korea began previously planned large-scale military exercises called Vigilant Storm.   

  The maneuvers involve 240 aircraft and “thousands of service members” from both countries, according to the US Department of Defense.   

  US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is scheduled to meet with his South Korean counterpart Lee Jong-sup at the Pentagon on Thursday.   

  Experts previously told CNN that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could be sending a message by deliberately showing off the nation’s arsenal during a period of heightened global conflict.   

  Last month, North Korea’s state media broke a six-month silence on this year’s wave of missile tests, claiming they were intended to demonstrate Pyongyang’s readiness to launch tactical nuclear warheads at potential targets in the South.   

  The latest tests also come after the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog warned last week that Pyongyang may be preparing for a nuclear test – its first since 2017 – with satellite images showing activity at its underground nuclear test site.   

  “We are watching it very, very closely.  We hope it won’t happen, but the indications unfortunately point in the other direction,” International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said last Thursday.

Correction: This story has been updated to clarify that this is not the first time North and South Korea have fired missiles off their respective coasts, and to reflect that North Korea launched a number of missiles of various types and the distance in kilometers from the NLL.